“”This article in Forbes contends that all of the .coms, or at least those of reasonable length, are used up. The article also contends that the best solution to the perceived lack of .com global top-level domain names (GTLD) is to use a .me extension, which got me thinking of ICANN’s announcement back in June that it had received almost 2,000 requests for generic TLDs for categories such as .hotel, .web and .blog.””

“As much as this seems like a good idea, I really think these alternate top-level domain names will remain an augmentation to what companies are already using or registered for very niche offerings. ”

“The thought behind the expansion of the GTLDs from the traditional .com, .net, .etc, and all of the country codes is that companies or groups of companies would use these. For example, Ford Motors might choose to have URLs such as car.ford or truck.ford, or perhaps the group might choose to use a naming convention such as ford.cars and gm.cars, something that might make accessing these sites more intuitive.”

“However, I think the practical reality is that almost all companies will want the .com version too, since that’s so engrained in our society that even if Ford were to buy these they would still maintain ford.com. I just can’t see any company out there not wanting a .com and perhaps even a .net version of their URL. Imagine if a company chose not to use some form of a .com name? It would open them up to fraudsters using that name for nefarious acts.”

“So, does this new world of GTLDs really provide viable options for companies? Absolutely.”

“But that doesn’t mean .coms are going away. ”

“Any organization looking to create a public presence on the Internet can use one of these alternates as an augmentation to their web presence, but the company should still have a viable .com.”

“So, while the Forbes article is interesting, it’s simply not realistic. It may be a bit more work to find a .com today than it was 10 years ago, but there are plenty of .coms left.”

About Michael Berkens

Michael Berkens, Esq. is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TheDomains.com. Michael is also the co-founder of Worldwide Media Inc. which owns around 80K domain names and whose retail site is at MostWantedDomains.com. Michael is also a Director of RightoftheDot.com which is a consultant in the new gTLD space and a broker of super premium domains. Michael Is also one of the 5 Judges selected for the the Verisign 30th Anniversary .Com contest at #Internetofficial

They can buy great premium .Com’s for cheap every day forever via GoDaddy, Sedo, BuyDomains, and DomainMarket.com……leaving the rest irrelevant and this prescient:
“…….almost all companies will want the .com version too, since that’s so engrained in our society ……… I just can’t see any company out there not wanting a .com ……..version of their URL.

I’ve been looking at deleted domains (going back to 2001) over the last week and there are more deleted .com domains than there are .com domains currently registered. While there is a lot of rubbish and wishful thinking type .com domains, there are some interesting ones upon which people could build businesses. To some extent, PPC parking and Domain Tasting (when it was a problem) caused an artificial shortage of good .com domain names but with the suppression of Domain Tasting and Domain Kiting, a lot of the problem has disappeared. Good, short .com domains (and high value single keyword domains) are long gone but one side effect of the problems in .com from 2005-2009 was that it boosted the uptake of ccTLD domains. Outside of the US and perhaps Canada, .com is no longer the unbeatable option for new companies. As most business is local, there is an increasing trend for these new businesses to register their name in the local ccTLD and, if it is available, in .com TLD. As a global TLD, .com is likely to be unbeatable for quite some time. The o.co fiasco confirmed that and should be a warning to the backers of the new gTLDs and prospective registrants.

I just registered a pronounceable , easy-three-word / three syllable, .com domain for a new venture I am starting. I also got the matching twitter and facebook name.

It took a little work, and they are getting harder to find, but there are definitely good .COMS (with matching facebook / twitter names) that can be registered or purchased on the secondary market at a reasonable price.

but, I feel that, in the next months/years, we will see thousands of “independent” promotional articles (like the one on Forbes) to push the new TLDs’ business, with titles like “the .com is dead” or “no more .com available on the Planet” or ” the .com are dangerous for your health”

“We still go through the drop list everyday and there are 30-40 good domains dropping every day.

We still acquire .com’s everyday.”

—————————————————————

Agreed. What do you mean by drop and acquire? Do you mean 30-40 actually do drop and are available for registration again (not including ones that get backordered and snapped up by the auction houses)?. When you say acquire do you mean register or winning expired auctions?

What Forbes and all other media intermediairies wont tell you is this. Not only are .COMS indelibly engrained in the total business platform psyche, but are actually the only Front and center access to the worlds largest repeat Traffic streams in Recorded History. Follow the money ,follow the traffic, you need to root your foundation in this prolific traffic stream called the .COM Channel. The holy grail of Marketing presides in the .Com extension PERIOD !

Of course there will always be .coms available. Assuming you’re willing to pay the domainers their huge profits and/or you’re willing to cobble words together. All the single words are taken. Most of the good two word combinations are taken. One could argue most of the good three word combinations are taken. Presumably we then move on to four words, five words, six words, etc.?

At some point, it get ridiculous. What we need are a few gTLDs (not 2k of them) to compete with .com. Something more intelligent than .net (which has always been .com’s red-headed step child). . co has potential. Though some could argue it’s a truncated version of .com and confusing as a result. Obviously .xxx has adult-related potential. But we need more quality extensions. Like the proposed gTLD .web for example.

I don’t agree with the .com-only domainers, but I also don’t agree with those proposing 2k new gTLDs. I think the answer lies in several QUALITY extensions. Be they generic or targeted to large segments of the web. Again, .xxx is a good example of an extension targeted to a large segment of the web. That same rational could be applied to other large segments.

I saw a video on Frank Schilling the other day. Perhaps the most famous/successful domainer of all time? Frank has plowed $60 mil into the new gTLD process. One member of his uniregistry team is quoted as saying words to effect of, consumers who were previously shut out of the domain market will be able to acquire meaningful and valuable domains.

Competition is always better for consumers. Competition is absolutely terrible if you’re a domainer who bet the farm on .com domains (which I believe many domainers have), but it’s better for the rest of us.

If .com really is the “be all and end all”, as some imply, that’s all the more reason why competition needs to be introduced. Things need to be shaken up. It’s been the status quo for far too long. So while I don’t favor 2k gTLDs, I say bring on the revolution. And I give credit to Schilling, who rather than being content to sit on a VAST .com empire, is helping introduce competition to his own portfolio. Frank stand to profit from the gTLD rollout, no doubt. But his actions will benefit comsumers in general.

The domain industry is basically a recycling industry. Until every single .com is owned by someone who is using it on a website, domains will continue to expire and someone will continue to buy. It’s a viscous cycle that, in my opinion, will never end. ( or maybe it will when domains don’t exist anymore…. but not in our lifetime as Rick puts it)

It’s virtually impossible to have all .coms purchased and unavailable at a given point. Way too many stars would need to align… and now, with all the new TLD’s coming out, I expect the focus of investors and buyers to shift slightly away from .com, which will bring back many more .com’s back in the expired domain market.

I agree that Frankie is an admirable domainer, but I think he was a fool to invest a penny in anything having to do with glds, let alone $60 Million. Easiest way to make a small fortune? Start with a large one. Unquestionably, Shilling should have stuck with .com for reasons so nicely stated by Jeff the Ferocious Metal Tiger. Watch and learn.